1860-style silk Christmas card
It would probably be a massive understatement to say that Christmas 1860 in The United States was a time of great uncertainty. That uncertainty has been a theme of the Daily News links listed over to the right on this site. South Carolina had just seceded five days ago. South Carolina is jubilant, but what does it all mean for that state and the rest of the country?
The Buchanan administration is, at best, full of Southern sympathizers. At worst, the administration contains traitors. President Buchanan is starting to get a bit tougher, but still, in general, he comes across as basically a doughface: he thinks it’s unfortunate that a state would leave the Union but does not believe he has any authority to stop secession.
Things also appear up in the air in the Palmetto state. It has seceded and has sort of started to develop an independent government. I’ve sarcastically referred to South Carolina as a new nation because its leaders know other Southern states are getting ready to hold secession conventions and possibly early in the new year there will be an opportunity to set up some sort of confederacy of slave-holding states. How much effort is South Carolina going to put into an independent government?
Moreover, the proximate cause of the secession is the election of that Black Republican, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s been making conciliatory statements about the situation but has not publicly stated any specific policies of his administration. What’s worse, it is still more than two months before Lincoln’s inauguration.
Governor Hicks to Mississippi: Not so fast! we're checking with other border states
A couple days ago we posted about Southern sentiment in Maryland. It would seem that Maryland’s position was very important. Washington D.C. was cut out of Maryland and Virginia land. If both states joined a slave-holding confederacy the federal capital would be surrounded by a foreign nation. What does the Maryland government think about disunion?
The December 25, 1860 issue of The New-York Times published a letter from Thomas Holliday Hicks to a “commissioner” from Mississippi:
THE POSITION OF MARYLAND.; REPLY OF THE GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND TO THE COMMISSIONER FROM MISSISSIPPI. STATE OF MARYLAND, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
ANNAPOLIS, Dec. 19, 1860.
SIR: Your letter of the 18th instant informs me that you have been appointed by the Governor of Mississippi, in pursuance of a resolution of her Legislature, a Commissioner to the State of Maryland, and that the occasion of your mission is “the present crisis in the national affairs of this country, and the danger which impends the safety and rights of the Southern States, by reason of the election of a sectional candidate to the office of President of the United States, and upon a platform of principles destructive of our constitutional rights, and which, in the opinion of the State of Mississippi, calls for prompt and decisive action, for the purpose of our protection and future security.”
You also inform me that Mississippi desires the cooperation of her sister States of the South in measures necessary to defend our rights, and to this end, you desire to know whether I will convene the Legislature of Maryland for the purpose of counseling with the constituted authorities of the State of Mississippi, and at what time it may be expected our General Assembly will be called for that purpose.
In the conversation I had with, you this morning, you were good enough to explain more fully the views and intentions of Mississippi in this matter — her desire that our Legislature should also appoint Commissioners to meet those of other Southern States; and that action at once be had by all the Southern States for the formation of a new Government among themselves.
The position of Maryland, as a small Southern Border State, renders the exercise of any power I may posses, for the purpose indicated by you, a matter of very grave importance.
Our State is unquestionably identified with the Southern States, in feeling and by the institutions and habits which prevail among us. But she is also conservative, and, above all things devoted to the Union of these States under the Constitution. Her people will use all honorable means to preserve and perpetuate these. I think I know the sentiments of her citizens in this matter, and that I am not mistaken when I say that, almost unanimously, they intend to uphold that Union and to maintain their rights under it — that they believe these last will yet be admitted and secured; and that not until it is certain they will be respected no longer — not until every honorable, Constitutional and lawful effort to secure them is exhausted — will they consent to any effort for its dissolution.
The people of Maryland are anxious that time be given and an opportunity afforded for a fair and honorable adjustment of the difficulties and grievances of which they, more than the people of any other Southern State, have a right to complain. And, in my opinion, if the people of this Union really desire its continuance and perpetuity such adjustment may be effected. I hope and believe it will be effected — and promptly. And until the effort is found to be in vain I cannot consent, by any precipitate or revolutionary action, to aid in the dismemberment of this Union.
When I shall see clearly that there is no hope of such adjustment, and am convinced that the power of the Federal Government is to be perverted to the destruction, instead of being used for the protection of our rights — then and not till then, can I consent so to exercise any power with which I am invested as to afford even the opportunity for such a proceeding.
Whatever powers I may have I shall use only after full consultation, and in fraternal concert with the other border States, since we, and they, in the event of any dismemberment of the Union, will suffer more than all others combined.
I am now in correspondence with the Governors of those States, and I await with solicitude for the indications of the course to be pursued by them. When this is made known to me, I shall be ready to take such steps as our duty and interest shall demand, and I do not doubt the people of Maryland are ready to go with the people of those States for weal or woe.
I fully agree with all that you have said as to the necessity for protection to the rights of the South; and my sympathies are entirely with the gallant people of Mississippi, who stand ready to resent any infringement of those rights. But I earnestly hope they will act with prudence as well as with courage.
Let us show moderation as well as firmness, and be unwilling to resort to extreme measures until necessity shall leave us no choice.
I am unable to inform you when the Legislature of this State will be called together, for until I can perceive the necessity for such a step I am not willing to awake the apprehension and excite the alarm which such a call at the present time could not fail to create.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant, THOS. H. HICKS.
Hon. A.H. HANDY, Commissioner of Mississippi.
1) Maryland’s wait and see approach seems appropriate for a border state that in the 1860 presidential election went for Breckinridge (the Southern Democrat candidate) over Bell (the Constitutional Union candidate) by .8% of the popular vote
2) Apostles of Disunion by Charles B. Dew discusses “Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War”.
3) I heartily recommend the sites listed under my “Daily News” links for anyone that wants to learn about Civil War-related events on a day-by-day basis from 150 years ago. And I’m not uncertain about that!
4) The picture of the circa 1860 Christmas card if from Wikipedia’s article about Christmas in the American Civil War
5) Mississippi’s Commissioner Handy is reported as saying that the reason for secession is not to break up the Union put to obtain concessions from the North.
6) I just realized the coincidence of Governor Hicks’ middle name on this day.
Happy Hollidays!
